Census Response Locally…Lower Than 2010 Response; Local Celebs To The Rescue

The U S Census Bureau started mailing out its 2020 census form in March. It takes roughly 3 to 4 minutes to complete and send it back to the Census Bureau.

With millions of Americans out of work, sheltering at home since March, there has been plenty of time to fill out the census form.   And the census is available in 12 languages.

But the Census Bureau’s polling shows the response rate in the Coachella Valley is tepid at best.

The Covid-19 pandemic, government-mandated lockdown of private business, widespread unemployment and business closures as a result, and government efforts to trace who you have come in contact with, may have raised suspicions among people, about government involvement in their lives.

You still have two weeks to fill out the census form.   The deadline is September 30th.

The national response rate right now is 64%. In California,  66%. In Riverside County the response rate is 63%.   In the Coachella Valley,  it’s 52%.

But fear not, it’s time to roll out the City Council Caravan.

Starting Wednesday, September 16th,  the five members of the Palm Springs City Council will kick off a friendly competition to see whose district can get the highest Census response rate by hosting drive-by caravans throughout their respective districts to urge residents to respond.

The caravans will kick off at 5:30 p.m. from the parking lot of the Palm Springs Public Library, at Sunrise and Baristo..

If the sight of City Council members rolling down the street in vehicles, badgering you about filling out your census form does not intimidate you, they have enlisted the help of three high-profile people from the valley, to help.

They are TV News Anchor Gino Lamont, entertainer Manny the Movie Guy and noted Drag Queen Bella daBall.

There are several Census Mobile Information Booths throughout Palm Springs to provide residents with information and online assistance to complete their Census form.

Those are at the Palm Springs Library on September 14th, 21st and 28th from 10 a-m until noon, The Welwood Murray Memorial Public Library on September 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th from 5 p-m to 7 p-m, the Palm Springs Leisure Center on September 19th  & 26th from 8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m, and the James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center’s FIND Food Bank Mobile Pantry Food Distribution on September 24th from  4 p.m.-to 6p.m.

To respond to the Census now, visit www.My2020Census.gov.

 

FILE – This Sunday, April 5, 2020, photo shows an envelope containing a 2020 census letter mailed to a U.S. resident in Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau has spent much of the past year defending itself against allegations that its duties have been overtaken by politics. With a failed attempt by the Trump administration to add a citizenship question, the hiring of three political appointees with limited experience to top positions, a sped-up schedule and a directive from President Donald Trump to exclude undocumented residents from the process of redrawing congressional districts, the 2020 census has descended into a high-stakes partisan battle. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

 

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